Control device for a coin-wrapping mechanism

ABSTRACT

A control device for controlling a coin-wrapping mechanism in which an a.c. motor is provided with means for regulating the operational period of the coin-wrapping mechanism, with a capacitor being charged during the operation of the a.c. motor through a rectifier, and a control circuit which interrupts the a.c. voltage and supplies a d.c. voltage established across the charged capacitor to the a.c. motor at an instant when the above mentioned operational period of the coin-wrapping mechanism terminates.

iinited States Patent [191 Enoue et al.

CONTROL DEVICE FOR A COIN-WRAPPING MECHANISM Inventors: Komei Inoue; Kazuto Asami, both of l-limeji, Japan Assignee: Glory Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha,

l-lyogo-ken, Japan Filed: June 15, 1973 Appl. No.: 370,466

Related US. Application Data Continuation-impart of Ser. No. 156,239, June 24, 1971.

Foreign Application Priority Data [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,709,880 6/1955 Jorgensen 53/59 R X 3,650,085 3/1972 Bay 53/59 R Primary Examiner-Travis S. McGehee Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Holman & Stern 5 7] ABSTRACT A control device for controlling a coin-wrapping mechanism in which an ac. motor is provided with means for regulating the operational period of the coin-wrapping mechanism, with a capacitor being charged during the operation of the ac. motor through a rectifier, and a control circuit which inter- June 24, Japan rupts the a c voltage and upplies a d c voltage estab lished across the charged capacitor to the ac. motor US. Cl 53/59 R at an instant when the above mentioned operational ii. period of coin wrapping mechanism terminates at e 1 Claim, 3 Drawing Figures g I I 3 i 4 .1. IO oo I CONTROL I CIRCUIT I I2 12b FOR COUNTER o-q I MECHANISM "O-g f I6 I90 We I l8 l9b PAIEIIIEIISE O M 3.884.116

Fla 1 PR/Ol? ART 5 F/G Z 2 I 3 I I IO 0--O I I w: 3 CONTROL C CIRCUIT I I2 12 FOR .COUNTER l HM MECHANISM I4 l6 I90, B

; I9 20 I7 1 I8 H fio 3 CONTROL DEVICE FOR A COIN-WRAPPING MECHANISM PRIOR APPLICATIONS This is a continuation-in-part application of US. application Ser. No. 156,239, filed June 24, 1971.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally to coin-wrapping devices, and more particularly to a type thereof wherein one cycle period of the, coin-wrapping process isaccurately regulated by a motor.

Heretofore, coins have been packaged in a coinwrapping machine, one example of which is illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings. In this machine, coins C counted in a coin counting mechanism (not shown) are delivered from a delivering port thereof into a coin receiving cylinder 31, which is provided adjacent to the coin counting mechanism, to be temporarily stored therein. When the number of coins to be included in one package of coins, for example fifty (50) are collected, an interrupting device in the coin counting mechanism interrupts the counting operation and also the coin delivering operation, each time 50 coins are counted.

After the interruption of the delivery of the coins, the coin-wrapping mechanism of FIG. 1 operates in the following manner. A closing plate 32 which normally closes the lower opening of the coin receiving cylinder 31 is opened. As a result, coins held in the coin receiving cylinder 31 are released, in a stacked state, to a wrapping section 33 of the coin-wrapping mechanism, where wrapping paper 34 is supplied for wrapping around the coins stacked in the wrapping section 33. After a predetermined length of paper is supplied from a paper roll, the paper is cut at the entrance of the wrapping section 33, and the entire length of the paper advanced into the wrapping section 33 is wrapped around the stacked coins, the upper and lower ends of the wrapping paper then being crimp folded over the ends of the coin stack. The coins thus packaged are delivered from a delivering section of the coin-wrapping mechanism. 7

During the above described packaging operation, the plate 32 is closed, and the above described interrupting device in the coin counting mechanism is reset to its original state, whereby the coin counting mechanism is operated again to resume the coin counting operation.

Since all of the above described operation of the closing plate 32 and the paper feeding, cutting, and winding operations are controlled by means of a plurality of cams mounted on the rotor shaft of an electric motor driving the coin-wrapping mechanism, the motor must be stopped after the completion of one cycle of the coin-wrapping operation exactly at a position at which all of these cams are brought back to their initial positions.

For fulfilling the above described operational requirement, the electric motor for driving the coinwrapping mechanism is stopped after one operational cycle of the coin-wrapping mechanism by means of a timing-cam also mounted on the rotor shaft of the electric motor, which interrupts the electric power supplied to the electric motor.

However, because of the momentum of the electric motor and other moving parts of the coin-wrapping mechanism, there is a great possibility of the electric motor over-running its required stopping position and of the above mentioned cams being offset from their restarting positions. Asa result, the timing of the coinwrapping operation becomes out of step with the operation of the coin counting mechanism, to thereby result in irregular and faulty operation of the coin-wrapping mechanism.

Furthermore, the above described detrimental effect of momentum changes in the course of usage of the coin-wrapping mechanism produces, for example, excessive wear of bearing parts. Such a change is also disadvantageous in that it necessitates readjustment of the cam positions.

SUMIVIARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, a primary object of the present invention is to provide a novel control system for a coin-wrapping mechanism, whereby all of the above described difficulties associated with conventional devices can be substantially overcome.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a novel control system for the coin-wrapping mechanism, wherein an a.c. motor for driving the coinwrapping mechanism can be stopped instantaneously so that any over-running thereof past a desired stopping position can be prevented.

These and other objects of the present invention are achieved by a novel design of a control device for a coin-wrapping mechanism which device comprises an a.c. motor including means for regulating the operational period of the coin-wrapping mechanism, a capacitor charged through a rectifier while the a.c. motor is operated, and a control circuit interrupting the a.c. voltage supplied to the a.c. motor and simultaneously applying the charged voltage across the capacitor to the a.c. motor at the end of the operational period.

The nature, utility, and principle of the present invention will be better understood from the following detailed description of the invention when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The control system constituting a preferred embodiment of the present invention, will now be described in more detail with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.

As will be observed in the drawings, across terminals 5 and 6 of an a.c. power-source, there is connected a starting push button 1, a magnetizing coil 3 of a starting relay 2, and a manually-operable push button 4 for the starting relay 2, all connected in series. A normallyopened self-holding contact 7 is connected in parallel with the starting push button 1. A normally-opened contactor 9 which can be opened or closed by a cam of the cam group 102 of FIG. 3 which is operated in cooperation with an electric. motor 8 for coin-wrapping, and a control circuit 10 of a coin-counting mechanism are connected in series across the a.c. power source terminals and 6. Furthermore, a normally-opened contact 11 of the starting relay 2, a normally-opened contact 120 of a transfer-switch 12 operated upon counting of a predetermined number of coins in the coin counting mechanism, and an exciting coil 13 of an operational relay 14 for the electric: motor 8 for driving the coin-wrapping mechanism are all connected in series across the terminals 5 and 6 of the a.c. power source. T

In addition, another normally-closing contact 12b within the transfer switch 12 is connected to the control circuit of the coin counting mechanism, and a further transfer switch 16 of a normally-opened type is connected in parallel with the transfer switch 12. The transfer switch 12 is also operated by a cam of the cam group of FIG. 3 which is rotated by the electric motor 8 for driving the coin-wrapping mechanism, so that one cycle period of the operation of the coin-wrapping mechanism may be deteremined.

Furthermore, a relay 14 for operating the electric motor 8 and having normally-opened contacts 19a and normally-closed contacts 19b within contact 19, and normally-opened contacts 21a and normally-closed contacts 21b with contact 21, is connected between the junction point of the transfer switch 16 and the normally-opened contact 12a of transfer switch 12 and the power source terminal 6. Connected in parallel across relay 14, between the junction point of transfer switch 16 and normally-opened contact 12a of transfer switch 12 and the power source terminal 6, is a series rectifier 17, current limiting resistor 18 and the normallyopened contact 19a of contacts 19 of relay 14 and a capacitor 20. The normally-opened contact 21a within the group of contacts 21 belonging to the motor operating relay 14 and the electric motor 8 are further connected in series between the power source terminals 5 and 6. The normally-closing contact 19b of the contacts 19 and the normally-closing contact 21b of the contacts 21 both belonging to the relay 14 are connected to each other.

The operation of the above described control system will now be described in detail.

Upon closure of the starting push button switch 1, the magnetizing coil 3 of the starting relay 2 is excited to close the self-holding contact 7, whereby the starting relay 2 is held in the closed state even after the push button switch 1 is released. Closure of the starting relay 2 causes the contact 11 to be closed to operate the control circuit 10 for the coin-counting mechanism. As a result, the coin-counting motor is operated, and the coins are thereby fed into the coin-counting mechanism to be counted therein.

When the number of coins counted in the coincounting mechanism reaches a predetermined value, the normally-closing contact 1212 is opened, and the coin-counting mechanism stops its operation. Simultaneously therewith, normally-opened contact 12a of the switch 12 is closed to energize the magnetizing coil 13 of the relay 14, whereby the normally-opened contact 19a of the relay 14 is now closed, and a d.c. voltage obtained after rectification in the rectifier 17 charges the capacitor 20.

Upon the operation of the relay 14, the other normally-opened contact 21a thereof is also closed, and the motor 8 is thereby started to operate the coin-wrapping mechanism.

During the coin-wrapping operation of the mechanism driven by the motor 8, and after the contents of the coin receiving cylinder have been delivered into the coin-wrapping mechanism and the lower opening of the coin receiving cylinder is closed, the contact 9 is closed by a cam of the cam group 102 of FIG. 3'which is interlinked with the electric motor 8 through gear 103 mounted on its rotor shaft, to operate the control circuit 10 of the coin counting mechanism whereby the coin feeding and counting operation of the coincounting mechanism is restarted.

During the operation of the coin-counting mechanism, normally-closing contact 12b of the switch 12 is closed, and the operation of the coin-counting mechanism is continued regardless of the subsequent opening of the contact 9 until counting of a predetermined number of coins is accomplished. However, since the contact 16 operated by a cam of the cam group 102 interlinked with the motor 8, is closed with the operation of the motor 8, the relay 14 is energized regardless of the opening of the contact 12a, and the motor 8 continues its operation.

When one cycle period of the wrapping operation is completed, the contact 16 is opened by a cam of group 102. In this case, if the number of coins counted in the coin-counting mechanism has reached the predetermined value, the coin-wrapping mechanism will operate continuously, but if the number of coins has not yet reached the predetermined value, that is, when the normally-closed contact 12b is closed, the relay 14 wil not be excited, whereby the normally-opened contact 19a of the relay 14 will be opened, the normally-closed contact 19b will be closed, the normally-opened contact 21a will be opened, and the normally-closed contact 21b will be closed. As a result, the a.c. current supplied to the electric motor 8 will be interrupted, and the d.c. voltage established at the capacitor 20 will be discharged through the electric motor 8, whereby the electric motor 8 will be braked and the coin-wrapping mechanism will be stopped at its initial position.

When it is desired to stop the operation of the coinwrapping mechanism at an intermediate instant during the operation cycle, the stop push button switch 4 is depressed, whereupon the relay 2 is de-energized and the contact 11 of the relay 2 is opened, causing the relay 14 to be released, whereby the electric motor 8 is stopped, and the coin-wrapping mechanism is also stopped.

According to the present invention, since an a.c. power source supplying an a.c. motor for driving the coin-wrapping mechanism is interrupted at the completion of one operational cycle of the mechanism, and a d.c. voltage charging a capacitor while the a.c. motor is operated is applied across the a.c. motor, the a.c. motor is stopped instantaneously, and the overrunning of the ac. motor at the time of stopping, which constituted a difficulty in the conventional mechanism, can

i be substantially eliminated. As a result, the coinwrapping mechanism can be stopped accurately upon termination of one operational cycle, and all of the related members of the mechanism can be accurately returned to and reset at their initial positions. Thus, defective operation such as the supplying of coins into the coin receiving cylinder when the lower opening thereof is not yet closed can be totally prevented.

We claim:

1. A control device for a coin-wrapping machine in which coins are counted by a coin-counting mechanism, and, upon completion of counting a predetermined number of coins, the coin-counting mechanism is stopped and a coin-wrapping mechanism is started to deliver the predetermined number of coins counted to a coin-wrapping position of the coin-wrapping mechanism where a coin-wrapping operation is carried out, the coin-counting mechanism being further operable to carry out a succeeding coin-wrapping operation, which control device comprises: an alternating current source for supplying power to the control device; an ac. motor means adapted to wrap the coins; a cam shaft having an initial operating position and operably coupled with the arc. motor; a plurality of cam means fixed on the cam shaft and adapted to operate the coin-wrapping mechanism; a wrapping cycle control switch means having switching positions and which is controlled by one of said plurality of cam means and adapted to control one coin-wrapping operation; a control circuit means for controlling the coin-counting mechanism; a counting completion switch means having switching positions, which means detect the completion of a counting operation by the coin-counting mechanism of the predetermined number of coins; a counting start switch means; a direct current brake circuit means having a capacitor for applying a direct current brake to the ac motor; a rectifier means for supplying direct current to the capacitor in the direct current brake circuit means; and a motor driving control circuit means operatively responsive to the switching positions of the wrapping cycle control switch means and the counting completion circuit switch means respectively, so that when said counting completion switch means has detected the completion of a counting operation the motor driving control circuit means causes the ac. motor to rotate which rotation is maintained by said wrapping cycle control switch means until the end of the coinwrapping operation, said motor driving control circuit means also supplying direct current through said rectifier means to the direct current brake circuit means during the coin-wrapping operation, and said counting start switch means being operated by the rotation of said a.c. motor to energize said control circuit means for controlling the coin counting mechanism, the succeeding coin-wrapping operation being uninterruptively continued if, before the completion period of a coin-wrapping operation, the counting completion switch means has detected the predetermined number of coins to be wrapped, but if said counting completion switch means has not detected the predetermined number of coins to be wrapped in a succeeding coinwrapping operation within said completion period of a previous coin-wrapping operation, said motor driving control circuit means is operated to de-energize the ac. motor, and to supply direct current to said direct current brake circuit means to brake the ac. motor and said cam shaft at its initial position so as to be ready for the succeeding coin-wrapping operation. 

1. A control device for a coin-wrapping machine in which coins are counted by a coin-counting mechanism, and, upon completion of counting a predetermined number of coins, the coin-counting mechanism is stopped and a coin-wrapping mechanism is started to deliver the predetermined number of coins counted to a coinwrapping position of the coin-wrapping mechanism where a coinwrapping operation is carried out, the coin-counting mechanism being further operable to carry out a succeeding coin-wrapping operation, which control device comprises: an alternating current source for supplying power to the control device; an a.c. motor means adapted to wrap the coins; a cam shaft having an initial operating position and operably coupled with the a.c. motor; a plurality of cam means fixed on the cam shaft and adapted to operate the coin-wrapping mechanism; a wrapping cycle control switch means having switching positions and which is controlled by one of said plurality of cam means and adapted to control one coin-wrapping operation; a control circuit means for controlling the coin-counting mechanism; a counting completion switch means having switching positions, which means detect the completion of a counting operation by the coin-counting mechanism of the predetermined number of coins; a counting start switch means; a direct current brake circuit means having a capacitor for applying a direct current brake to the a.c. motor; a rectifier means for supplying direct current to the capacitor in the direct current brake circuit means; and a motor driving control circuit means operatively responsive to the switching positions of the wrapping cycle control switch means and the counting completion circuit switch means respectively, so that when said counting completion switch means has detected The completion of a counting operation the motor driving control circuit means causes the a.c. motor to rotate which rotation is maintained by said wrapping cycle control switch means until the end of the coin-wrapping operation, said motor driving control circuit means also supplying direct current through said rectifier means to the direct current brake circuit means during the coin-wrapping operation, and said counting start switch means being operated by the rotation of said a.c. motor to energize said control circuit means for controlling the coin counting mechanism, the succeeding coin-wrapping operation being uninterruptively continued if, before the completion period of a coin-wrapping operation, the counting completion switch means has detected the predetermined number of coins to be wrapped, but if said counting completion switch means has not detected the predetermined number of coins to be wrapped in a succeeding coin-wrapping operation within said completion period of a previous coin-wrapping operation, said motor driving control circuit means is operated to de-energize the a.c. motor, and to supply direct current to said direct current brake circuit means to brake the a.c. motor and said cam shaft at its initial position so as to be ready for the succeeding coin-wrapping operation. 